Sunday 28 June 2026
Fifth after Pentecost
Welcome!
Welcome to excerpts from the worship held within the newly formed Westhills Church of Scotland Congregation. We know that not all members of the congregation are able to be in church on Sunday morning; offering these excerpts from the Sunday morning service might help you feel included. Where we can, we offer parts of the service in text and audio, whichever works best for you.
If this post helps you explore what happens within an act of worship then please read on…
The Psalms
Psalm 13
Live recording
Scripture
Romans 6: 12 – 23
Live recording
Matthew 10: 40 – 42
Live recording
Praise – There is a Redeemer
Prayers
Live recording
A place of Welcome. An open door. Arms to embrace. A smile of friendship.
We pray Father God that we are all these things because very simply we want to make everyone welcome in our House. This time in worship is not only for us; it is for all, for everyone who wants to meet with you in Spirit and in Truth. Do not hide yourself from those who seek you.
We praise you and rely on your constant love. Your love gives us strength to serve you, to preserve in faith when all around is working against us. We trust in your unfailing goodness and mercy; Lord lead us in your everlasting ways.
When we have fallen short. When we have been filled with doubts. When we have turned your message upside down, when we have sat down and failed to take the Good News out on our journeying; Lord forgive us. Look on us kindly, teach us the nature of the calling you placed upon each one of us as disciples of Jesus Christ. Place within our hearts the fire of the Spirt, a love so deep that we can do no other that speak of Christ, his life and death and resurrection.
Your offer to us life in all its fullness, life in abundance. The gift you offer we gladly receive. And we too bring our gift, our offering. We bring possessions and give of our means; we bring loving hearts and songs of praise. We bring our faith tiny as a mustard seed yet full of potential, blessed with the mystery of life and growth. And we lay all this at your feet that you may show us how to bring in Your Kingdom in this time and in this place.
Hear us as we join in the words of the Lord’s Prayer saying…
Our Father who art in Heaven Hallowed be thy name. Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil, for thine is the Kingdom, the Power and the Glory forever. Amen.
Address
Live recording
I have one of those bank accounts that offers Reward Points on purchases. The idea of getting something back appealed to me (perhaps it’s the Aberdonian in me) so I used the account regularly and the Reward Points built up. Then I discovered that I could link my account with my eBay account. I buy quite a lot of small stuff from eBay so it seemed a good idea to get something back on that. The Reward Points quietly built up. I had no real clue why I was saving up these points or what I might use them for but it felt good that I was getting them. I do the same with my BP app. Every time I buy diesel for the car I get reward points. Apparently, I have 12,351 points worth £61.75 !!! I can spend those points on all kinds of things but not diesel.
Then one day I got an email. Some of your Reward Points are about to expire, go online and redeem your points now! So, I went online to see what I might get. When is a Reward not a Reward? Not one single thing could I find that was in any way interesting or useful to me. I let the Reward Points expire.
Matthew brings attention to Jesus words; it’s all about rewards. But you might notice that Jesus at no time actually says what the reward will be. Our imagination fills in the gaps; Jesus must be talking about rewards in heaven, spiritual rewards, gifts from our Heavenly Father. But the fact that he does not make it clear leaves it feeling a little awkward. Maybe, it’s not about reward at all, maybe it’s about the other word that repeats – Welcome.
Whoever welcomes you welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. Whoever welcomes God’s messenger… whoever welcomes a good man…
And having said those words Jesus and his disciples head off to the towns nearby where they will preach and teach and no doubt hope that they will be made welcome. Welcome because they understand Jesus to be God’s messenger. Welcome because they see Jesus as a good man. Or simply that they see one of Jesus disciples thirsty and offer a drink, a kind gesture that speaks of openness and welcome; certainly not rejection.
Welcome is an important word. Walk into almost any public building and a Welcome sign in a dozen different languages will be hanging on the wall. We want people, all people to know that they belong, there is openness to each other that offers everything I have to you and everything you have to me. Welcome is so much more than just “Hello” it is more than just a greeting; it is an overcoming of boundaries and barriers.
We like to think that we are a welcoming congregation and not without justification. We do endeavour to engage with someone new to us. We do encourage everyone to stay on for tea and chat; it gives an opportunity to get to know folks better – make them welcome. And this makes me aware just how much our context has changed from that which Jesus and his disciples were in. With our regular weekly gatherings and our big church buildings we want folks to come to us and then we will make them welcome. Jesus and his disciples began from the other end. They had no weekly gathering and no church building in which to make folk welcome. Jesus and his disciples had to go out to people hoping, praying, that they would be made welcome. Our situation and Jesus situation are almost opposite sides of the same coin. Are you the one extending a welcome or the one is who receiving a welcome? Or as someone once put it… You will make more friends by taking an interest in others than you will by waiting for others to take an interest in you. There is movement, a direction of travel and it is an outward looking one.
Jesus is very much aware that those who welcome him because they see Him, or you, or I, as a messenger from God are open to receiving that message. Message and messenger so tightly bound together that you cannot make the messenger welcome without making the message welcome too. Maybe Jesus was confident that He was a Messenger from God but we rarely elevate ourselves to such a status.
A Good person; do we dare to see ourselves as a good person? Are we made welcome because we are trusted, kind, caring, compassionate, that the Christian faith we live by shapes us, shapes our attitudes and our actions, we always try to do the right thing, the decent thing. In the name of Christ, we open our doors and our hearts to all people. If we are made welcome because we are understood to be good people then the faith we live by is accepted and made welcome as well.
And if someone should give you even a drink of cold water because you are a follower of Christ it is because they see you and your faith as having a place in this world. Set that against the previous context of Jesus talking about persecution and the contrast becomes so obvious. Does the world hate you because of you are a follower of Christ or welcome you because you are His follower?
If each of these scenarios of Welcome suggest some degree of openness to the Christian Gospel, a place where the seed of faith might be planted and nurtured; might it be that the seed of faith is itself the reward of welcome?
Praise – The King of love
Prayers for Others
Live recording
A Change of Prime Minister
It was inevitable… a change of Prime Minister as support waned for Keir Starmer. Then every political career ends in failure. So, for the people, a time of political upheaval, uncertainty, policies and spending plans are on hold waiting for whoever comes next to sign things off, or not. Yet Lord, we know that the problems remain even if the politicians change. Everything needs to be resourced, everything comes at a price, but so often we are not prepared to pay the price, we refuse to carry the hardship, the burden. We seek an easy solution that does not exist.
Lord into your hands we place those who will be contenders for No. 10. May they have vision, determination and the skill to carry party and country with them on a new journey. Lord hear our prayers…
Discipleship
Discipleship. Is it a word that we misunderstand? Is it a word that scares us? Asking us to do something we don’t know how to do or how to articulate the Good News of Jesus Christ? If we don’t have the words then Lord, help us to live it out – help us to be Christ in this world loving as He loves. Let the Good News shine from within our souls and let that living, unspoken message be welcomed in hearts and homes. Lord hear us in our prayers as we seek to be the disciples you have called…
Those weighed down by difficulties
Loving God, we pray for all who feel weighed down; when life is just not in the place where they want it to be. Where relationships are strained, and options seem limited or even non-existent; problems to which they can see no solution. Emotions are low and self-esteem is struggling. We pray for them and for ourselves acknowledging that sometimes we too can feel crushed by life. Speak to us all, Lord Jesus, in that still small voice of reassurance granting us your peace and quiet confidence for you have promised to share our burdens. And so may the soul be refreshed. Lord hear our prayers…
Praise – All my hope
The Grace
And now… May the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Love of God and the Fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you and all whom you love, now and for evermore. AMEN.